Describe your vocal & songwriting style to your potential new fan base..
Before debuting as an artist, I’ve been a songwriter. I wrote my first song in 2009 & have just shy of a hundred songs registered in my name since then. I value a good story. That’s what haunts me in a song. The situation it describes or what have you, that is so relatable, that you can do nothing but put yourself in the narrators position & hearing the artist sing “YOUR” song, if that makes sense. I really like putting those stories into my songwriting. That’s something I really love about my debut single “Tomorrow Never Comes”. I’d like to think I’m the rasp voice of Rag’N’Bone Man, the honesty of James Bay & the songwriting style of Ed Sheeran. I really couldn’t define my own style if I tried, so I’ll let you, the listener, decide.
Name a few of your musical influences..
As a teenager I was deeply in love with the Dave Matthews Band. Currently, I’m listening to Danish artists like JADA, Lucas Graham, MØ. International artists I’m inspired by would be Rag’N’Bone Man, James Bay and definitely Ed Sheeran. I also adore Sam Smith, Adele, James TW & Lewis Capaldi. Oh! & Taylor of course, such a great, great songwriter.
Tell us something truly interesting about yourself that is not music related…
After being rejected by the Danish music conservatory for the 5th time in 2018, I applied for an engineering degree. Now, in the summer of 2022 I will have a bachelors degree in Earth And Space Physics & Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark. At first, I wanted to send people to Mars with Elon Musk & SpaceX. My program was created when SpaceX learned to reuse rocket, ushering in the new space age.
Since then I’ve changed my profile somewhat; Climate change is the number one challenge of our genneration & I wanna help make new green energy technologies needed to reach the Paris agreement of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
How would you describe the music industry scene in Denmark?
I think there’s a lot of great music in Denmark, people are really experimenting & taking risks these last few years. My opinion is, ever since Billie Eilish broke through, people just expect everyone to be provocateurs in someway or another. To each his own.
We’ve also got a really flourishing POP songwriting community that I’ve been lucky to be a part of these last couple of years, since signing a publishing deal with TG-Publishing .
What is the best concert you have ever been to?
My cousins band “Girls In Airports”. An early inspiration for going into music was when I as a kid and I saw them play one of their first concerts and I was completely BLOWN away. The horn melodies, the semi-psykadelic sound scapes from the amazing keyboard player, the african inspired rythms. I remember vividly closing my eyes & “tripping” for an hour, through an amazing journey inwards.
What do you enjoy most about performing?
Oh that’s such a hard question but at the same time an easy one. There’s so many nuances to a performance, so I can’t pick one, since the experience would not be the same if any one thing weren’t there, you know? Of course there’s the climax when everything is turned to 11 & everybody is jumping & having a great time. Then there’s those moments of a pure connection, where you just put yourself out there for everyone to see and the room feels quiet. That intimacy is a rush.
You have a debut single about to be released Internationally, how are you feeling?
After writing songs for 12+ years, I feel everything is now coming together, all the hard work, all of the times people told me it’s never gonna happen, all the vocal practice, the music theory, the hundreds of small concerts in random bars — now it’s HAPPENING!. To put it in one word “I’m feeling READY“.
How have you evolved as an artist over the last couple of years through the pandemic?
Well, it was during this pandemic I rediscovered that I can be an artist. Before the pandemic, I was writing songs for other artists & playing shows with my afrobeat-jazz-fusion orchestra & doing weddings with cover bands. When the pandemic hit, obviously all the live performance stopped, but songwriting was very much available. The bands dissolved & the only way to express myself musically was in my songwriting & in the studio.
If you could co-write a song, have dinner, with any band or artist (dead or alive) who would that be?
I’d have to say Adele. She just seems like the nicest person alive. And such a talented singer-songwriter. I love that her songs tell stories & have something real and very human to them. When most people write a love song it so often feels generic and made up. But with her, it feels so real.
What’s next for your music vision?
My dream right now is to grow my fanbase. I want more people to hear my music, so that I can perform at bigger venues/stages.
But we’ll have to see what happens. After 12 years of songwriting, I’m just stoked to FINALLY be putting my own works out there for the world to see. Stay tuned! Thank you for the Interview
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/mrtnngrd/
End of Interview